La Pain à l'Ancienne

We discovered Le Pain à l'Ancienne (traditionally-baked bread) at the weekly Monday market in Forcalquier. Their variety of breads and brioches are great, and organic (biologique) enough to please the most demanding purists.

They grow the grain without any chemical fertilizer and without using any mechanical equipment. They grind the grain by hand, and immediately before using it. (According to Friend-of-Beyond Marc Venot: "it's important to have the right stone which grinds at a cool temperature".) They make the dough with the freshly-ground grain and distilled water. Their Brioche au Rapadura uses Brazilian "rapadura", the only pure sugar in the world.